The left's moves to resolve the issues surrounding its presidential referendum

These are bittersweet days for the Colombian left. Tuesday's acquittal of former President Álvaro Uribe was a severe blow to the ranks of the Historic Pact, and especially for supporters of Senator Iván Cepeda, who will face off against former minister Carolina Corcho this Sunday to determine the Petro party's presidential candidate. Despite the disappointment over the ruling and the defeat suffered by the president's movement in last Sunday's youth councils , the left has made two moves to resolve the legal issues that have clouded the referendum for weeks, and which could clear the way for achieving the unity that President Gustavo Petro seeks.

On Wednesday morning, the legal representatives of the Communist Party, Jaime Caicedo, and the Patriotic Union, Gabriel Becerra, sent an official letter to the National Electoral Council. "The undersigned legal representatives of the Patriotic Union and the Communist Party of Colombia, representing our communities, hereby waive any possibility of participating in an interparty referendum for the election of a presidential candidate from the Historic Pact," the document reads. The goal is for the Democratic Pole to remain the only party that endorses the registrations of Corcho and Cepeda , so that the referendum would be internal to a party and not interparty. This would allow the winner to participate in a possible referendum in March with candidates from other left-wing and center-left parties and movements to select a single candidate from the so-called Broad Front for the first round. If the referendum is legally interparty, as currently provided for in the ballot, the winner must present himself as a candidate in May and cannot ally with anyone.

The document by Caicedo and Becerra is clear on this point. "These resignations are being submitted to preserve the partisan nature of the consultation, with a view to guaranteeing the political decision that enables the winning option to compete in a Broad Front consultation in March 2026. We request that, with this communication, our will as parties be respected and, at the very least, that the content set forth in the submitted consultation agreement be guaranteed," it explains. Four days before the call to vote, the request has not received a response from the National Electoral Council (CNE). This is an issue so decisive for the future of left-wing unity that the pre-candidate and former mayor of Medellín, Daniel Quintero, resigned from the consultation a week ago, arguing that he did not want to be left out of the Broad Front, which they hope to form in March.

In parallel with the letter, another sector of the left received good news that will allow them to unify their forces to run on a single ticket for the Senate and the House of Representatives in the March elections. On Wednesday morning, the CNE (National Electoral Council) granted legal status to the Progresistas party, led by Senator María José Pizarro and the controversial representative David Racero. This is a formal split from the Indigenous and Social Alternative Movement (MAIS), a party of indigenous origin that is part of the governing coalition but declined to participate in the merger of leftist parties to preserve its ethnic identity. The request for this split has been ongoing for some time, and the CNE put it on hold in September when it approved the merger of the Democratic Pole, the Patriotic Union, and the Communist Party in the Historic Pact. At the time, it alleged that there were pending investigations against members of the MAIS, a situation it stated on Wednesday had been resolved.

“Progresistas is established as a new political force in Colombia, embracing the legacy of democratic struggle, social justice, and transformation initiated by thousands of citizens,” Pizarro said after learning of the news. “This recognition is a fundamental step toward unity within the popular and progressive camp, within the framework of the process seeking to resolve the legal status of the Historic Pact, the coalition currently leading the Government of Change project headed by President Gustavo Petro.”

However, the merger into the Historic Pact, which would have avoided the entire debate over the intra-party or internal nature of Sunday's referendum, remains stalled. Colombia Humana, the fifth organization seeking to merge, has been unable to do so, as the CNE found in its initial decision that it must hold a mass assembly to do so. Therefore, Senator Pizarro called on the National Electoral Council to expedite the granting of legal status to the Historic Pact, "without conditions," and allow "the transition toward full and undivided unity among the groups that make up the political project of change."

Amid this news, the two pre-candidates are intensifying their campaign rallies. This Wednesday, Congressman Cepeda made a strong statement in the Senate plenary session regarding the acquittal of former President Uribe, a traditional nemesis of the Colombian left: "Don't think that the impunity that has been achieved is the final word. And not only in this litigation, but also in the False Positives case, the La Escombrera case, the Aro and La Granja massacres, and the death of Jesús María Valle," he said to applause from his Pact colleagues, referring to various criminal acts from the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Corcho, for her part, was on a national and international media tour, during which she revealed that she is summoning electoral witnesses across the country to monitor the electoral process, in an effort that also serves to mobilize grassroots activists who could support her at the polls.